Sunday, August 5, 2012

Late Night Papermaking

As a promotion for my upcoming Watermark Workshop, I thought I'd post some of experiments for a new suite of watermarked handmade papers that I'm working on.

I'm tentatively calling the series Corn and Corporations, and the suite, of which this is the first, will be a series of logos of corporations that are part of our corn-based food systems. Though I guess technically, the USDA isn't a corporation, but it's part of the overall system.

Above is one of the laser-cut vinyl watermarks that John Sullivan of Logos Graphics made for me on a mould. Below are some tests.

The watermark, made of corn husk fiber, has been couched onto a sheet of denim. Together, these two fibers with this watermark embody the mythology and reality of our food systems and the American heartland.

I'm curious how the paper will look dried, if the denim will be too dark and the corn husk too light for clarity.